


Thieves n Lovers

by Mintcarousel



Category: LoliRock (Cartoon)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, F/M, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 18:42:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12041934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mintcarousel/pseuds/Mintcarousel
Summary: Instead of having worked with Gramorr to capture Iris, Lev actually believed that she could defeat him. And she does! But what plans does Lev have for Iris in the aftermath?





	1. The castle; her eye

“Told ya, dummy.” says Lev, that infuriating smirk on his face. Iris can barely stand. Her breaths are pained and shallow and her arms are weak. She collapses.

“I got ya, Princess. Don’t worry.” Iris felt as if her arms would be crushed in his hands. He eventually helps her to her feet, his hands still holding her from behind. She wrests them away.

“You have some _serious_ explaining to do. What the hell was this?!” she yells as she snaps her entire body towards Lev, ending in a fencer’s battle pose, one foot in front of the other, back straight, with a booming voice. As she questions the thief, she points to a smoldering crater; as if a meteor crashed in the castle.

“What happened was, you killed Gramorr.” he does that asshole thing where he shrugs, throws his hands in the air, closes his eyes and smirks. “You won, Iris. Celebrate!”

“Why didn’t it feel like a victory then?” She turns back to the smoldering crater that was once Gramorr. “And where’s Banes?”

“The cat? Let’s not worry about that right now. And… maybe it doesn’t feel like a victory… because it was too easy?” Iris shoots him a glare. “What? Alright, alright.”

Iris walks over to the crater, and places her hand on it. “It’s still hot.” The soot catches on her hand, leaving it completely black.

“You alright? Lemme see.” Lev takes her hand gently into his, careful not to get any soot on him.

“It’s not burned if-” Iris doesn’t get to finish her sentence, because Lev pushes her hand into her face, getting soot on it.

“Lev! _What the fuck?!_ ” Half her face is covered in streaks of black soot. Her right eye squints and blinks painfully.

“Hey! The princess can swear for real.” Lev is beside himself with laughter.

“Lev! This really fucking hurts.” Iris is tearing up in her right eye. Her left hand holding her face while her sooty one is kept down, away from her face. It dirties her dress.

“Alright, princess. Let me see.” He gets close to her, taking her hand down from her face. Iris’s eye is completely closed now. “I said, _let me see_.”

Iris, wincing in pain, slowly opens her eye. It’s red and inflamed now.

“Looks pretty bad. I’ll bring some water to wash it out.”

“Thank you, Lev. Even if it _is_ your fault.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He walks out of the throne room. “Be right back. Sit tight.”

Iris is alone. She glances at the crown, her crown. But it’s about as interesting to her now as the soot on her hand. She walks to a wall and sits. She knows intuitively that rubbing her eye, even with her left hand, is not a good idea, but she does it anyway. That buildup of pain after not touching it for two seconds is almost as unbearable as the base pain itself. Eventually, Lev returns, with nearly a gallon of water in a levitating orange crystal.

“I didn’t know how much I’d need so, I just brought… a lot.” He gets down to one knee in front of Iris. “Okay, I’m gonna just get the area wet, okay?”

“Just hurry up.” A droplet floats to Iris’s face and bursts on her eye. It drips down her cheek onto her chest.

“Let’s try a bit more.” Now, Lev levitates a stream of water, flushing the soot out of her eye. Lev is not particularly careful when it comes to the water spilling on her.

“Lev, I’m getting wet.” says Iris, completely innocently.

“Oh really?” says Lev, completely not innocently.

“Say anything like that again and I’ll make sure you don’t even get a crater.”

“Damn, princess. Got some teeth on ya.” Lev continues with the flushing of her eye and also the drenching of her dress. “I guess that’ll do for now. How does it feel?”

“Better. Still hurts to open it though.”

“Here.” Lev produces an eyepatch. “Put this on.”

“Why do you have an eyepatch?” Iris takes it and puts it on while waiting for an answer.

“Oh, you know. Emergencies.”

“Got it.” Iris now has the eyepatch. It’s a basic, black, nondescript patch that tugs and pinches her hair.

“And now-” starts Lev, but Iris interrupts him.

“Now we call Talia and Auriana.” she says, standing up. Firm, like she’s with renewed purpose or something.

“You can’t do that.”

“What?! Why not??”she turns to face him, her uncovered eye glaring, doing the work for two.

“Look, there’s a reason why I didn’t let Talia and Auriana come. And it wasn’t because your dad said so or whatever.”

“And? What’s your excuse? And it better be good.” She clutches her pendant.

“I didn’t let you bring them because… well, they’re too far gone. I probably couldn’t convince them. But you? Yeah, maybe.”

“Convince me of what? You’re not making sense.”

“Ever wonder why I keep calling you ‘princess’ in that condescending manner?”

“Yeah, no. I stopped caring months ago.”

“Well, okay, first off, ouch, second, well… look, Iris. I hated Gramorr. Even if I worked with him, and whatever,  I still hated him. He was a tyrant. But you know who else is a tyrant? Your mother.”

“What?” Her good eye widens in shock.

“And your father. And Izira. And whatever Auriana’s mom’s name is. Honestly, Voltans have too many family members. I can’t keep track.”

“You hate royalty.”  
“I hate _the feudal system_. Didn’t you learn about it at your earth school or something?”

“Yeah. In History. Earth doesn’t have it anymore, I don’t think.” Iris sits back down, Lev sitting next to her, close.

She continues, “So what do you want to do about it. Declare an Ephedian Election and have a President? Should we write up a Constitution?” asks Iris, half-joking, half-not.

“Honestly. That sounds like a waste of time. These Ephedians are too weak and stupid to not just elect the royal families over and over again. Name recognition is very important in elections.”

“It is… how did you know that?”

“I watched a lot of news during my time on earth.” Iris nods in response.

“So, what you’re saying is, my home planet is fucked and there’s nothing we can do. But I defeated Gramorr. The ultimate evil, Gramorr! Doesn’t that count for something?”

“Honestly, the presence of Gramorr banded the kingdoms together. But with him gone, they’ll probably end up fighting again.”

“But Talia and Auriana, and Lyna and Carissa are my friends!”

“True, but remember, they’ve been raised in the feudal system. You don’t exactly see eye to eye with them anymore, do you.”

Iris is ashamed, but he’s right. “No. But still… they’d never fight amongst themselves!”

“It’s true. They are still friends. And they probably still consider you a friend as well. But resources are scarce and they have to think of their own people. And that might mean war.”

“I’ll stop them.”

“You might be able to. Damn, if you pull out your crystum sabris, with that eyepatch of yours, hell, half an army would run screaming with their tails between their legs.”

Iris laughs. Lev speaks, “Hey! She smiles, finally.”

“Shut up.” She punches him in the arm. Why does she suddenly feel comfortable with him? She ignores the thought. “So, what should we do now then?”

“Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”


	2. The castle; his stomach

“Lev, I don’t know what to do.” says Iris, as Lev is walking towards the foyer doors of the castle.

“Do you want to… I dunno, eat?” Lev’s stomach growls as Iris stands unsure-footed in place. The eyepatch pinches her hair. The band that holds it in place obstructs and disrupts her bow, pushing it into her scalp. Her hair tangles and bunches and splits in pain.

“Hey… before we decide on anything, you should take off your headband.” He reaches a hand to her. She shrinks back, thinking he was just going to take what he wanted but instead his hand simply holds her face, holds it with care, and intent. Iris feels her cheek rest on his palm. It’s almost as if the same hand hadn’t ruined her eye five minutes ago.

“Lev, I-” Iris breaks away to regroup. “Okay. Okay.” She takes off her pink bow, holding it in her hand. Lev takes it upon himself to fix her hair under the eyepatch. Iris feels herself- actually, she doesn’t feel anything. She doesn’t do anything.

Iris stares at her pink bow. She feels the velvet on its band. The silk on the bow. It’s just a bow. And it did hurt wearing it. Why did she feel such a-

“Where should I put it?”

“I have a bag for it, if you want.” She hands him the bow.

They stand there, unsure. At least, Iris is. Her eye is glossy in thought and she fidgets and her eye shifts. Lev’s eyes are fixed squarely on Iris. She’s beautiful, he thinks. She’s…

Lev’s stomach growls.

“Oh! Lev, I completely forgot! You should go on ahead and get some food.” Her hand is on his shoulder and her face is reassuring.

“Can do!” He starts to walk out with that gait of his. That asshole kind. “Wait, aren’t you coming?”

“Can’t. I need to find my parents.” She turns away and walks with purpose and force. Lev’s eyes widen as he hears this.

“Wait, what? Iris, wait!” He runs to catch up to her. She doesn’t slow down.

“Why? I need to see them. I can’t believe I spent all this time up here when I could have-”

“Iris, I don’t-”

“What, Lev?! You don’t what?! These are my _parents_. My parents that I- I’ve never met. I need to know them. A-and I don’t care if my mother and father are the types of people you say they are. They're still my family.”

“Iris… that’s not what I meant. Of course you should go to your family. I just… well they’ve been Gramorr’s prisoners for a long time. I don’t know if they’ll be the same- or how you could even tell. This might not be the happy reunion you’re looking for.”

“It’s a reunion either way, right? Then I’ll be happy.”

“But what if-”

Iris doesn’t wait for Lev to finish. She heads down to the dungeons to finally meet her real parents. As she descends, her stomach knots and tears flow from her good eye. The left is teared out. What started as a hurried walk is now a full blown sprint down the castle stairs. There is nothing about this castle that is home. No paintings. No decorations. No flowers. The walls are a dark as Gramorr’s heart. He might be dead, but this is still _his_ castle. It might take years to return it to the beacon of hope that- or was it ever that at all? This castle- the gloomy, dark, intimidating stronghold of Gramorr’s is all she ever knew of it. How could she know it was ever a beacon of anything except domination, control, and terror? But, as she runs down the halls, she runs past these thoughts. All that matters is her parents. She needs to hear them. She needs to feel their touch, their warmth. Nothing on this planet makes sense to her. Everything she ever learned with Talia and Auriana no longer makes sense. They were supposed to defeat Gramorr together but instead… her and Lev? It just doesn’t feel right. Lev isn’t all that bad… he’s just not Talia and Auriana.

Iris knows what will make sense though. The true warmth of her parents’ love. That will make sense. It must. It has to. It-

“No!! NO! No no no!!!! No no no no no no!!!” Iris, at the cell door, already open, falls to her knees on the hard ground, screaming, hacking, crying, and coughing. Lev stands behind her, his face frozen, taking in the scene. The stench of it hits her in the stomach and Iris vomits on her dress, on her knees. Lev reaches into his bag for something to calm her stomach down. She’s too weak to take the pill herself, so Iris lets him feed it to her. As Lev lifts her up, she gathers the strength to wrap her arms around him.

“Lev! Oh, Lev…” She cries into his chest.

“Iris, I’m- I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. This is… I never liked them, but… they didn’t deserve this.”

There are marks on the walls, marks of magic. They obviously tried to fight back. Their clothes are torn apart. The Queen’s chest is bare all the way down to her ribcage. Her leg is torn off. Her face is opened and staring and mouth agape and her throat looks like ripped wet paper. The King’s head has rolled away from his body. His stomach’s contents are strewn across the walls behind his corpse. There’s the smell of blood, viscera, shit, and now Iris’s vomit in the dungeon. The Queen sleeps in a pool of her excrement, her dress and undergarments torn off, letting it leak on the floor. The King is marked by deep cuts to his face and arms. Cuts like… scratches.

“ _Banes_.” whispers Iris. Her throat is sore from screaming. She can barely croak his name out.

“It certainly looks that way. What should we do, Queen Iris?” Iris looks at him with shock.

“What did you- this is not the time for that, Lev! We need to hunt that thing down and _kill it_ for what it did to my- my-” Iris breaks down again. Lev holds her close, tears, soot, vomit, and all.

“I don’t think now is the time to look for a fight. You’re too weak, you’re emotionally compromised, and you have no depth perception anymore. Come on, you need to eat. You need your strength for what is next.” Iris searches his eyes. What does he mean, ‘what is next’? Iris likes to think its the inevitable fight with Banes but, there’s something about this she doesn’t quite trust. She feels sick. She needs another to hold her. Oh, god she needs to be held and loved. But she has no one. No one except Lev.

“You promise we’ll avenge my parents?” Lev takes her hands into his. He holds them, as if they were his toys. She couldn’t pull away, even if she wanted to. Because if she did, she’d be alone. She wouldn’t be loved. As he caresses her hands and gazes into her eyes, he whispers, “I promise.”


	3. The castle; her tongue

“You’re right, Lev.” says Iris, quiet, her hand still held in Lev’s.

“While I’m flattered that you recognize such an obvious fact, could ya tell me exactly what I’m right about?”

Iris breaks free from his grasp, or maybe he let go, hard to tell which. Iris takes a deep breath, “I am officially the Queen of Ephedia.” Her voice is low, sullen, and devoid of feeling. It’s the same tone as when she says, ‘I have to go to the dentist today’. The corner of Lev’s mouth ticks upward, if only for a moment.

“Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?”

“Not like this! My parents are dead! My family is gone! I- I don’t even know if I have any other relatives! My entire reason for doing _any_ of this is gone.” Iris sits down, nearly falling. The smell of her parents no longer fazes her. Even so, she doesn’t look towards their cell. She buries her face in her knees. After a few moments, she looks up, and speaks.

“I told myself, yes, yes, I want to see my parents. But I’m doing this- I’m searching for the Oracle Gems, I’m going to defeat Gramorr- to free my people and create a better world for them. Everytime the Twins hurt me. Hurt my friends. Hurt anyone I cared about: that’s what I told myself. Everytime I thought I was going to die. I kept telling myself this. To get through it all. So that the mission wasn’t all about me. But about something greater than myself.” Her eye glides and falls on Lev. “But that was a lie.”

“Iris… do you even want this burden? Do you want to sacrifice your happiness for the sake of this planet? Because it sounds to me like you’d rather do anything else.” Lev almost sounds sincere; Iris takes no notice.

“What was it you said earlier? The system only serves to hurt those at the bottom?”

“You’re paraphrasing, but yes. In a nutshell.” Iris stands up and dusts herself off. The vomit on her dress is not yet dry. Under normal circumstances, she’s be grossed out from the wet food on her hands but she just doesn’t care.

“I don’t think I want it.”

“Now Iris,” Lev pauses. He’s already started, he has to say something. He has to be careful. Say the right thing, or even the wrong thing, doesn’t matter. Just spin it right. “You’re not just saying that because of what I said, right?”

Iris looks over to him. Her eye trying desperately to show any sign of emotion. “Even without what you’ve said, it’s still all a lie. No one prepared me for this. No… I just realized something… shouldn’t Talia have prepared for this? For my parent’s… shouldn’t she have seen this coming?”

Lev’s fingers twitch while his eyes search for an answer. Iris’s eye is fixed on the ground. Her question is dejected, and, as it seems, any optimistic answer would be rejected.

“Perhaps she didn’t. Or perhaps she intended all along for you to become Queen.”

“That’s strange.” Iris folds her arms, her eye looks on the ground for something not there.

“Yeah. Betting on your parent’s dying. That’s cruel if I-” Iris interrupts him with a finger to his mouth. The finger may have had vomit on it. Lev finds his composure.

“No, Lev. That’s not what I meant. I’m certain Talia was just preparing for the worst. But…”

“But what?”

“How was she preparing then? All we ever did was focus on fighting the Twins, and getting Oracle Gems. If Talia ever taught me about Ephedian history, it was because I asked, or it was important to the mission.”

“Sounds like Talia was keeping things from you.”

“Well, she did. I know that much.”

Lev’s confidence shoots through the roof. ‘I know that much’. Perfect.

“Iris, _Jo nujea ton aefidje ritse_?”

“What?”

“Ah, it’s just as I thought. Talia never taught you the Ephedian language.”

“The language?”

“What was Talia even waiting for?”

Iris closes her eye, remembering everything she, Talia, and Auriana went through. It was painful, remembering smiling so hard and so true.

“Talia never once mentioned a language.”

“Then I think I know what’s going on. If you’ll allow me, Iris?”

“By all means.”

“It wasn’t enough that Talia wanted you to become Queen, and to continue the cycle of misery for the lower classes of Ephedians. No, she wanted power for herself.”

“I don’t like this.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No, continue.”

“Think about it. With you, the sole ruler of Ephedia, not knowing the language, you would be dependent on Talia for information. Talia would, on the outside, work as a liaison of sorts between you and your subjects. But instead of being a clear, and accurate, source of information, she would obstruct that information to her benefit. Essentially being the _actual_ ruler of Ephedia. Usurping your authority from right under your nose.”

Iris stares past him. She is silent for a solid minute. She stares.

“You don’t believe me, do you-?”

“No, Lev. I do believe you. This is _exactly_ something Talia would do. I just- I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. She was only _pretending_ to be my friend. Of course there was an Ephedian language! Of course they all didn’t just speak English! I’m so stupid. I’m so, so stupid! I’m stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Lev takes it upon himself to comfort her. His arms wrap around her, holding her tighter than ever before.

“Iris, I’m here for you. Whatever you need. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”

“Lev, I- I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Teach me Ephedian.”

“Well, the first thing you have to know, is that there are sounds in Ephedian that aren’t in English. You heard that already.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember. What were you even saying?”

“In English I asked, ‘Do you speak Ephedian’. Well, actually there is no word for “Ephedian”. Just, Ephedia. You use this, um, word that means ‘around’, I think? Or maybe ‘with’? You generally use it if you and a buddy are doing something together. So it’s like I was asking, “Do you speak with Ephedia?”. Well, in any case, the obvious answer is no.”

After about an hour of fumbling around, trying to teach Iris a new language, Lev realizes that this is too difficult an endeavor for someone to teach a language, when they have no idea how to actually teach. He didn’t even know the word ‘ritse’ was an adposition that triggers the comitative case. Hilarious.

“Okay, this isn’t working. We have to try something else.”

Iris doesn’t even try to think of anything on her own. She just lets Lev do the thinking.

“Got it! We’ll just let you experience the language for yourself!”

“What do you mean?”

“Come with me. Let’s go get something to eat.”

“Eat? But- wait, what?”

“If you listen to me talk with other people in Ephedian, maybe it’ll rub off on you or something!”

Iris sighs, “Oh Lev. Thinking with your stomach, I see.”

Lev chuckles, “Yeah, yeah. I haven’t eaten since breakfa-” His face drops. It darkens with heavy realization. “I skipped lunch. Oh my god, I think I’m actually starving.”

Iris laughs, “You are not starving, Lev!”

“You’re right, of course.” There’s an opportunity here and Lev does not pass it up. “I know what starving feels like.”

Iris stops laughing. Suddenly, everything makes sense to her. Of course Lev was a thief. Of course he would do _anything_ , even work for Gramorr, for a payout. When he talked about the common people, those downtrodden, pushed down by the system, _starving_ , he was talking about himself.

“Lev, I- I had no idea.” She feels so hurt. She feels lied to. She feels sheltered. The boy standing before her with the sad smile was the _real_ Ephedia. Not this pristine fairytale Talia spun for her. Not a place that was perfect with a few obvious blemishes. Iris doesn’t know why she suddenly hates- no. Does she even hate Talia? Is that what this feeling is? No, too early to tell. Maybe Talia didn’t know she was doing it. Maybe she’s being forced to. Maybe- Iris’s thoughts are interrupted.

“It’s okay Iris. You’re a good person. You know right from wrong and you have a good heart. I was right to put my faith in you.”

Iris knew what this meant. He put his faith in _her_. Not Gramorr. Not Talia. Iris. And only Iris.

“Lev, please believe me when I say this. I am so grateful to you. For everything. I didn’t know who to trust for a while. But now I know. Now I know who’s on my side. Lev, I put my faith in you.”

“Sounds good, Iris. Now can we finally get something to eat?”

“Of course, my friend.”


	4. The woods; her trust

Humid, yet overcast, Iris and Lev walk through a sparsely wooded area. Iris is hungry now as well.

“It’s just up ahead.” says Lev, walking ahead of her.

Iris doesn’t respond. She’s hot, it’s hot, she’s sweating. She pants, like a puppy, she follows, like a puppy. Lev gives her space but the leash is there.

She fights it, inside.

“Lev, wait.”

“Yeah?” He stops.

“You don’t have any money do you.”

Lev makes that, ‘aaaaaa you got me!’ face and gesture. It kinda makes him look like an asshole.

“I mean, I  _ was _ going to get paid quite handsomely by Gramorr, but then I thought, ‘no, the trust and friendship of Iris is much more valuable to me than money’.”

“I don’t believe that for a second you dork.” Iris shakes her head, laughing.

“Well, I think I know what you’re getting at: Yeah, I’m fucking broke and you have no idea how things work here on Ephedia. We, uh, have to steal food.”

Iris does something here Lev hasn’t seen before. She tilts her head down slightly.

“What? No outrage? No, ‘We can’t do that Lev! Stealing is wrong! Morals blah blah blah’?”

“Not today, Lev. You’re hungry, I’m hungry. Just… do what you gotta do.”

“Right then, Iris. I’m gonna need your help.” He puts his hand on her shoulder.

“Me? What for?”

“Well, I’ve been to this market before. Now, I don’t know if they’ll recognize me per se-”

“You got caught stealing here didn’t you.”

“Uh… yeah. Anyway, here’s my plan: You  _ attempt _ to shoplift somewhere, drawing attention away from me, who actually steals food for us to eat!”

“But won’t I get in trouble?”

“Hmm. Not if you look pathetic enough.”

Iris gives him a quizzical look.

“The merchants here are notorious for taking pity on young, poor, dirty,  _ pretty _ people who just want food. That used to be yours truly, but then the merchants caught on to what I was doing.”

“I guess… I am dirty.” She looks down at her dress. The soot has more or less fallen off, but there’s still the faint gray stain of its remnants. A bright orange stain sits in the lap of her dress.

“Well, you could be dirtier. Let me…”

With dirt in his hands, he takes his thumb, like he’s wiping her tears away, and strokes her cheek. His palm runs across her mouth, and she coughs the dirt out.

He kicks at her legs, and the dust collects. He thinks about dumping some dirt in her hair, but then thought better of it.

Instead, he takes Iris close to him. They can feel each other’s hearts beating. Iris’s heart is racing. And then he trips her and pushes her down to the ground.

“Lev! Ow! What-” She tries to get up, but can’t. Her head falls to the ground. Lev apparently thought this was a more efficient way of getting her hair dirty, or maybe he just wanted to push Iris to the ground.

“Here.” Lev reaches a hand down. Iris takes it.

“Okay next… this dress you’re wearing.” His right hand falls along her side. He never touches anywhere Iris might protest. But, just close enough…

“What about it?” she asks.

“It’s still too nice. Here, let me-”

He takes her by the collar and rips her dress. The loose fabric nearly revealing her bra underneath.

“Lev! Is this really necessary?”

“Of course it is,” says Lev, taking the hem of her dress and ripping that up too. Now her left thigh is exposed. She’s voiced her discomfort, but she does nothing to stop it. Why? She’s hungry. This is the only way to get food. Yes, the only way.

“One last thing, sorry.”

Iris sighs, “Ok, Lev. What is it?”

“You still have the look of a fighter in your eye.”

“Well, I am a fighter. Of course I do.”

“Poor, starving girls don’t have that look, Iris. They’re afraid.”

“So what do you mean, then, Lev?”

“Iris, I have to make you afraid.”

“Lev…”

He doesn’t let her respond. He grabs her arm, tight. Tight. It hurts her.

“Lev! Lev, stop it!”

Lev continues. He pulls her close, and pushes her down to her knees. She fights.

“Lev, please. I don’t want this. Please, Lev. Please!”

He’s strong. He never used this kind of strength with her. It makes her wonder, could she fight him? If she had to? He’s just, so strong. Iris feels her legs wobble. Soon, her knees land in the dirt with a thud. They start bleeding, but Iris won’t know that until she gets up. She lets herself sit on her calves. She looks up at Lev, who’s standing right there.

“Lev, I’m scared. I’m scared, okay? You don’t have to do this anymore.”

“I don’t think so.”

He grabs and pulls her hair up. She’s now in a traditional kneeling position. She tries to pull her hair down. He’s so close. He’s close. He’s close to her, to her face. To her body. Her mind is racing. She’s dizzy. She’s fighting this dark urge to just let him… she didn’t even know what he was going to do. It’s that fear of the unknown. She begins to think, maybe this has nothing to do with getting food. Maybe he isn’t hungry at all. Maybe he just wants to hurt her. She starts to cry. Her arms fall to the side, too weak to fight.

Lev drops her and she falls again. Her head hits the ground. It takes her a moment to gather herself. Soon, she’s on her feet again.

“Okay, now you’re scared.”

Iris doesn’t speak.

“Iris? You know I wasn’t really going to hurt you, right?”

“But you did hurt me, Lev. You’ve been hurting me.”

“No, Iris.” He takes her in his arms, “I have never hurt you. Not really. And I would never. I  _ could _ never. I think you’re making too big a deal out of all of this.”

“What- but you did hurt me. This whole-”

“Iris, please. I’m the only one you have. There’s no one else to turn to.”

He’s right. She hates it, but he’s right. She wraps her arms around him.

“What if you wanted to hurt me?” She asks, timidly.

Lev makes Iris’s cheek rest on his palm. His thumb strokes her eyepatch.

“Sure, maybe. Let’s get that food, though, for now.”


	5. The castle; her heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late posting! I started uni last week and my schedule is pretty... packed. Anyway, I'll try to get chapters done by Mondays.

The bleak black throne room receives a flash of blue light for a moment. Princesses Talia and Auriana walk through the portal, already transformed. Their faces are scowled, scanning the room for enemies. Well, one enemy. The Enemy.

“Talia, where is he? Where is Gramorr?” Auriana frequently looks to Talia for answers. Talia frequently gives them to her.

“Gramorr  _ has _ to stay in the throne room. It would be impossible for him to leave. But the crown is still here, which means he didn’t escape.”

Auriana’s face lights up. “Does that mean Iris- she actually beat him?”

“Yeah, it looks that way. But where is Iris?”

“Don’t forget about Lev. Do you think Iris…?” Auriana doesn’t want to say it. She’ll let Talia say those words.

“It’s a possibility. But then why didn’t she come back to earth?”

“Maybe she forgot how to make the portal?”

“Then why did she leave?”

Auriana’s eyes widen and she purses her lips, as if to keep her thoughts from manifesting.

“Auri, what is it?”

“What if Iris didn’t make it either?”

Talia takes her by the shoulders, locking eyes, close. “Listen to me, Auriana. Iris is out there. Okay? I don’t know where she is, but she is. And we’re going to find her.”

Auriana’s tears are already down her cheeks, but she’s smiling. She knows Talia means what she says. She trusts her.

“Thank you, Talia.”

“No problem. Now, we have to figure out what happened. Iris wouldn’t just leave without a good reason.”

“Maybe it was the Twins!”

“That’s a possibility, but as far as we know, the Twins are still back on earth. I haven’t received any communications from Lyna and Carissa that the Twins left earth or from Izira that they returned. It also seems unlikely that the Twins would even want to fight Iris after she  _ just _ killed Gramorr. They’d probably just, disappear.”

“We should search the castle. Maybe Iris went looking for her parents.”

“Good idea, Auriana. Let’s check the dungeons.”

The steps are dark and harrowing. Wholly unlike the steps in Xeris. Large, grand, blue-white and radiant. Izira would walk those steps with her best gowns and little Talia right behind in the cutest dress. Voltans never liked building upwards. So Auriana never saw a staircase until she fled for earth. But earth stairs are soft, and comfortable. Well, the one in Aunt Ellen’s house is, anyway. These stairs are leading towards despair. Auriana hates moving through the gloom, while Talia feels the walls close in on her. The staircase is tight.

They reach the bottom, and they see.

Auriana screams and buries her face in Talia’s shoulder. It’s hard for Talia to look, but she can’t stop herself. She tells herself to look for clues, but she can’t. She just stares. And then she sees the marks.

“I think I know why Iris fled.” says Talia.

“T-Talia?”

“This was Banes. Banes did this, and Iris went after him.” Talia’s voice is loud and confident. She has to be. Auriana’s barely holding together. She needs Talia.

And then Auriana remembers Iris. She remembers her smile, and her laugh. She remembers how much empathy was packed into that petite body. She remembers how small she was when she first met her, and how strong she’s become since. She remembers her strength and her resolve.

“Then our mission is clear. We have to help Iris. Talia, we have to go after her.”

“Agreed. We should probably visit Izira so we can plan out a thorough search for her.”

Auriana’s fist clenches.

“What’s wrong?”

“Talia, I-” she chokes, “I don’t want to waste anytime. I just want to go. I can’t explain it, I just want to go after her.”

“Auriana… meeting up with Izira and using Xerin resources is the  _ best _ chance we have of finding Iris.”

“I know I know. I just, I feel like  _ I’m _ not doing anything. I can’t put it into words, Talia.”

“Auriana, if you want to go after Iris, go ahead. I know how much you love her.”

Auriana gives her a long, close hug. “Thank you thank you thank you!!”

“Go now, Auriana. Find her. Bring her home.”

“I won’t fail, Talia. I won’t fail you, and I won’t fail her!”


	6. The ravine; her hand

“Stop crying, Iris. You’ve faced worse.”

“You didn’t tell me that merchant would do that.”

“It’s just a slap. You’ve taken more punches than any guys I know.”

“Of course, I can take a punch, but they had a reason to punch me and I had a reason to fight back. That merchant… I-we just stole from him. I deserved it.”

“And you’re upset.”

“Yes! Lev! I’m upset! I’m cold, I’m hungry, I’m dirty, I’m in pain. I feel sick, sick, sick.”

Lev stands up. They had been eating sparse bread and fruits stolen from their little excursion.

“Come on, Iris. We have to go.”

“What? Lev, where are we going?”

“Back to the castle.”

Iris doesn’t move. “What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not going back there.”

Lev looks down on her. She hasn’t gotten up yet. “You hypocrite. You say you want to help the ‘common people’ but then you complain about the very bread they live on! You give up your comfy life as a princess and can’t even last a day?”

Iris starts to cry. Her feelings are so confused. She doesn’t know if she’s mad at Lev, herself, or both.

“It’s like you don’t even care about us.”

“No! No, Lev. Please, I care. I do care. Please, Lev, don’t take me back there. I want to learn. Help me, please.” Iris crawls to Lev on her knees. “Let me make this up to you. I’ll do anything.”

Lev tries not to get hard. “Just get up, dummy. You’re embarrassing.”

“Okay, Lev.”

“Now come on, we can’t stay here. Izira will start to sweep the areas, just like before.”

“Before?”

“Izira liked to parade herself around her kingdom, flaunting that cursed medallion. Even _Gramorr_ was afraid of her. And rightly so. Before him, she was the closest thing to a tyrant.”

“Izira was always so nice, though.”

“Do you always trust a kind smile?”

“No, of course not. That’s stupid.” 

Iris continues her thought. “Is Talia like that? Will she be like her sister? Is she already?”

“Izira had the medallion, yes, but her real power comes from her secrets.”

“Talia would’ve turned me into one of _them_ . She would have used me, my parents, our friendship, just to gain power. I can’t believe I ever trusted that _bitch_.”

“Strong words, Iris. Will you back them up with action?”

“Yes, Lev. I killed Gramorr, but the people of Ephedia still need rescuing. Let’s _destroy_ them.”

“Fantastic. Now, let’s get moving.”

The two pack their food into Lev’s pack and start to head off. Iris’s eyepatch itches. But she remains quiet.

A few hours later, and Iris is hungry again. She thinks about asking Lev for more bread. But how long has he waited for food? Days? Weeks? She couldn’t just ask after an hour or two. Her stomach growls. Lev doesn’t seem to notice. She walks and doesn’t speak.

It’s the next day, and they hadn’t eaten. Lev stops, Iris too.

“Okay, time to eat.” He reaches into his bag and pulls a single piece of bread and hands it to Iris.

“Um, Lev?”

“Yeah?”

“I had more than this, didn’t I?”

Lev looks inside his pack.

“I don’t think so? Everything else is mine.”

“What? That can’t be right.”

She looks into his bag herself.

“Some of this stuff is mine, I’m sure of it.”

“No it isn’t, Iris. Are you trying to steal from me?”

“What? No! Never! I just think… isn’t it strange that you have so much left and I- just have this bread?”

“You don’t think I know how to ration? You don’t think I know how to pace myself?”

“Fuck! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I was stupid. Of course not, Lev.”

“You’re forgiven, Iris. Go ahead, eat your food.”

“Thank you, Lev. Thank you so much.” She takes a bite of the stale bread. “It’s good, Lev. It’s good. It’s enough.” She tells herself.

Their trek continues. Iris wants to know where exactly they’re going, but she knows better now not to ask questions. She feels useless, and dependent. She only helps in small ways and it does nothing to make her feel she contributes.

A ravine. They had been following a river for a few miles and it took them. The sides are high and shadowy. Lev slows down.

“What’s the matter?”

“I made a mistake. We aren’t safe here.”

They’re wearing armour, their faces are covered by their helms. They don the Blue Diamonds of Xeris.

“It’s the foot soldiers of Izira. They’ve come for us.” Lev’s face is seething.

“On orders of the Princess, take Iris alive!”

“What about that other one?”

“The Princess said nothing of him. Kill him.”

Iris stand in front of Lev. Finally, this is her chance. “No! I won’t let you hurt him. I won’t let you take me! I won’t go back!” She clutches her pendant.

“Iris- wait-”

“No, Lev. Not this time. I’m stronger than you, Lev. Let me protect you. Just, let me do this one thing.”

Lev’s eyes tear up. “Okay, Iris. Go do your thing.”

Iris nods. Fighting is what she was born to do. She never realized how badly she missed it. “Iris! Princess of Ephedia!”

Quiet.

“Wha… Iris! Princess of Ephedia!”

Nothing.

“Princess of Ephe- wh- why isn’t it working?” She looks down to her pendant. The crystal is black.

“My pendant… What happened? I can’t transform!”

The soldiers tackle Iris to the ground. Her eye frantically searches for help. “Lev! Lev, help me!”

Bright flashes of orange light and the soldiers are blasted into the walls of the ravine.

“Grab my hand, Iris. Come on!”

She does and she runs. It isn’t even a conscious thing. She’s lost. That last bit of herself she knew was gone. She can’t transform. Was it because she gave up being a princess? Did the crystal sense her betrayal and die? It doesn’t matter. Iris is completely useless and wholly dependent on Lev. She doesn’t even have the strength to hold his hand. He just pulls her. It hurts, but she has nowhere else to go. But what would happen if he gets angry with her? Will he abandon her? Will she be alone? No, she can’t. She wouldn’t survive. She needs him.

That was it. She’s broken. She’s his.


	7. The cave; her eye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is like 3 weeks late lmao.  
> but I feel it'll make up for it 'cause it is WILD af

Days pass. Lev found a cave south of the Calixian mountains. It’s cold, dripping wet, and smells of moss. Lying on the wet dirt, Iris starts to groan.

“We’ve been here three days, Iris. If you didn’t like it you should have said something.”

She repositions herself, sitting up. Her thighs are absolutely caked in mud.

“The cave is fine, Lev. It’s this- it’s my eye. It’s starting to hurt again.”

Lev takes a moment, finding his way in.

“Iris.” he says with a stern, almost parent-like voice, “You’ve been cleaning that wound, right?”

Her good eye shoots down at his voice. It widens in shame.

“No, Lev. I- I haven’t been cleaning-”

“Iris, you idiot.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know! I didn’t-” her hands grab his shirt.

“Okay, Iris. Take the patch off. Let’s see what we’re dealing with. Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

“You really think so?”

Lev takes another moment. To Iris, he’s thinking, maybe refining his answer for her, just a little. He sells it so.

“I can’t say I’m optimistic.”

Iris’s good eye is still looking for a positive answer.

Her lips quiver, “Will it hurt?”

“Probably. Now take it off.”

Iris obeys. The hurt eye’s still closed. The area is inflammed. Red, the only thing warm in that cave.

“Come on, Iris. Open up. Open up for me.”

Iris struggles. She wants to keep it shut. It stings real bad and opening it, Iris feels, would just be more trouble. But what does she know? Lev is the one who knows how to take care of her. And even if he- doesn’t matter. Lev is all she has.

She takes a deep breath and slowly opens her bad eye. The first bad sign was she couldn’t see anything out of the eye. The second bad sign was Lev’s face.

The boy looked the way he was when he saw Iris’s parents torn apart.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“It’s not good. Fuck, Iris, this is really not good.”

She tries to hold it in, but the tears, like a tapped tree’s sap drips out.

Lev drilled the hole.

“What- what do I do, Lev? What’s gonna happen to me? Lev?”

“That eye is septic. If it stays, it could poison your blood. You could die, Iris.”

“Septic? Die? Lev, what do you mean? What do you mean by ‘stay’?”

“You know what I mean, Iris.”

“You’re going to- going to- go- I can’t say it. My stomach, it’s- I’m gonna-”

“Lay down, Iris.” She obeys.

“Lev, I’m scared.”

“Just relax, Iris. It’ll be okay. Everything will be fine.”

Lev reaches into his bag and pulls a small thin knife and a bottle of clear liquid. He dips the knife inside. He makes sure she sees it.

Knife in hand, he approaches the bad eye.

“Wait! Lev, Wait. Don’t you have any anesthetic?”

“No, Iris. I don’t. I’m sorry.”

For the first time in a long time, Iris gets angry.

“Fuck you Lev! Bullshit! You have all these medical supplies and nothing for the pain?!”

“Iris, look, all I can do is give you some liquor to dull the pain.”

“Then do that then, god.”

Lev hands her a flask.

“Make sure to take it slow.”

Iris chugs as much as she can; it’s not a lot. She coughs up most of it.

“Iris! God damn. Don’t drink too fast.”

“I’m sorry, Lev! I’m scared. You- you’re going to hurt me. I just need to- not. Not be here, you know?”

“I know, Iris. I know what that’s like. Just, take it slow. It won’t take long for you.”

She puts the bottle to her lips and lets it stream down her throat. It feels like honey on her tongue but it burns farther down. As she sips and sips she feels her arms numb and her vision start to blur.

“L- ready.”

Lev reads that as, ‘Lev, I’m ready.’ and acts accordingly. Iris lets her head fall to the ground. Lev’s hand is there to let it fall gently.

Her eyes are glossy, even the bad one. Iris’s movements are fluid and meandering, all except that eye. It twitches in a pain Iris no longer feels.

The knife is close. He’s to her side. She just wants him to get it over with. She wonders, quite mischievously, how loud she’ll scream.

Lev doesn’t like this. The angle is weird, he says to himself. He gets up, steps over her, and sits, straddling her.

Iris knows what he’s doing, but she’s too drunk to do anything. She has fear in her eye and her hips tremble. She gathers the strength to put her hands on his stomach.

“Lev…”

He thrusts the knife into her eye. Iris cries out. The first thrust is always- and again. And Again. A sawing motion, almost, as he carves the eyeball out of its socket. Her legs wrap around him as he plunges into her again and again. Relentlessly. Her hands hold him tightly as this, happens, but as he continues to cut out her eyeball, he grip loosens. Soon, her arms fall to the side. Every thrust is a new agonizing scream.

Quieter, though, each time. Soon, all she can manage is coarse breathy gasps. Lev takes his time circles his knife around the eye. Iris bit her lip, and coughs up blood on his face. Lev is unfazed. Using the side of the blade, he lifts the eye from out of the socket, and takes it in his fingers. Iris convulses violently as vomit bubbles up from her mouth. Her good eye rolls back and her thighs roll into him. The pain is so unbearable she starts to wet herself. Lev, so focused on tearing that eye out, is left completely unaware. With him so close to her, with the pain, and everything, it’s all so close, so hot, and it hurts so much, she comes. There’s no shame felt, only pain. Only pain.

With the ball in hand, he tears through the nerve with the knife. The blood streams out of her face. Lev pushes her face to the side to let the mix of blood, pus, and sclera liquid pour out.

The alcohol starts to wear off, yet he still holds her down. She starts to struggle, trying to get him off of her.

“Get off please. Please Lev, get off. Please. Lev. Off me…”

Lev reaches for antiseptic gauze. He pulls her face back up towards him by her cheeks and tapes over her socket.

“There. All better.”

Iris breathes in out in out in out her chest can’t move fast enough with her breaths. It hurts.

“Lev. Enough, Lev. Get off of me.”

Lev doesn’t get up. He stays on Iris. All Iris can do is beg.

“Iris…”, he says, pinning her arms down, “you have to promise me something.”

Iris thinks about resisting. She quickly forgets that idea.

“Yes! Anything, Lev. Anything.”

“Don’t hurt yourself like that again. I hate seeing you in pain.”

Tears stream down Iris’s face from her eye. She smiles genuinely for the first time in ages.

“Of course! Thank you so much, Lev! I couldn’t have made it without you.”


End file.
